AS/COA Applauds Bipartisan Plan for Immigration Reform

New York, January 28, 2013 — Americas Society and Council of the Americas welcomes today’s release of the bipartisan Senate framework for achieving comprehensive immigration reform. The bipartisan principles and legislative pillars included in the framework will help ensure that long overdue reform is dealt with quickly, fairly and in a bipartisan manner—with benefits to the U.S. economy, U.S. immigration policy and U.S. rule of law.

“Holistic reform of our immigration system must be achieved as soon as possible. The principles released today are a very good starting point for achieving reform in a bipartisan way,” says AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal. Since 2007, Americas Society has established itself as a local and national leader on immigration issues through its research, off-the-record roundtable meetings, and public forums in New York City and in new immigrant gateway cities across the country.

The framework includes four legislative pillars as laid out by Senators Charles Schumer, John McCain, Richard Durbin, Lindsey Graham, Robert Menendez, Marco Rubio, Michael Bennet, and Jeff Flake:

• A path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that is contingent upon enhanced border security and new exit procedures for certain authorized immigrants.
• Legal immigration system reform to better recognize the importance of characteristics that will help build the American economy and strengthen American families.
• Creation of an effective employment verification system that will prevent identity theft and end the hiring of future unauthorized workers.
• An improved process for admitting future workers to serve workforce needs while simultaneously protecting all workers.

“Immigrants make substantial contributions to the U.S. economy and our future competitiveness globally hinges on an immigration system that allows for the flow of both low- and high-skilled workers while providing a path to authorized status for the undocumented population,” notes AS/COA Director of Policy Jason Marczak. Immigrants started 28 percent of all new U.S. businesses in 2011, with immigrant business owners employing one of every 10 U.S. workers in the private sector according to the Partnership for a New American Economy. The continued strength of the U.S. economy means the generation of businesses and the creation of jobs for all Americans.

For further information, please contact Adriana La Rotta at alarotta@as-coa.org or (212) 277-8384.

Americas Society is the premier organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Established by David Rockefeller in 1965, our mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.

Council of the Americas is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. Recognizing the link between U.S. immigration and overall hemispheric relations, AS/COA launched its Hispanic Integration and Immigration initiative in 2007 to draw on its public–private convening power in order to bring together key constituencies in new gateway cities and to produce research on the link between changing demographics and economic competitiveness.